Apron-type conveyer



Nov. 4, 1930. F. A. FAHRENWALD APRON TYPE CONVEYER Filed Oct, ll, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet l Nov. A4, 1930. F. A. FAHRr-:NWALD APRON TYPE CONVEYER 2 sheets-sheet Filed Oct. ll, 1928 Patented Nov. 4, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE f raam: .rannENwALn, or cmoaeo, ILLINOIS Arnon-TYPE coNvnm application med october 11, ma. serial no. 311,805.-

This invention relates to conveyers and is to warp and break the conve er links, and illustrated herein as embodied in a conveyer also, the links in passing from t e atmosphere of the apron type in which the load engagthrough the furnace tend to rob the furnace ingsurface is comprised of a series of allned of a reat deal of heat and to chill the articles B sections having overlapping adjacent edges. whic are carried upon the surface of the 55 In the manufacture of certain types of conveyer. steel parts such as bolts, nuts, small forgings, Such considerations as those just set forth and the like, it has been found expedient to render it extremely desirabley to provide an provide a furnace having open ends an'd a apron type conveyer which is simple in deconveyer which extends from a point located slgn and construction, is vlight in weight, is 00 outside of one open end of the4 furnace durable in wear, and of such a construction through the furnace, and thence to a point that it does not tend to absorb very much located outside of the opposite open end, and heat upon passing into the furnace, In view in the operation of such furnaces, the steel of the foregoing desideratum,'it is an imparts are deposited upon the exposed surface portant object of the .present invention to 05 of the conveyer and as they advance through provide an improved conveyer which may be the furnace a suitable degree -of heat is im-v eiciently employed in connection with furparted to them. To the end of advancing the naces for heat treating metallic parts as well parts through the furnace, a great number as in connection with various other., appara- 2 of conveyer units, such, for exam le, as intuses and operations. y, 70

ternal screw feed retorts, and contmuous al- An important feature of the invention conloy sheet metal belts, have been developed sists in the provision of a series of alined load and utilized in heat treatin the steel parts engaging members having simple connecting but it has been found that t ese devices are means formed integrally therewith. The open to a number of objections due on one load engaging members com rise at plates "l hand to the complexity and great weight on that are comparatively thin 1n cross section the part of the screw feed retorts, and on the and are provided with overlapping adjacent other hand tothe tendency to break or warp edge portions, and being of such a construcon the part of the sheet'metal belts. tion, they are of small volume and hence Now, it has been found that apron-type do not tend to absorb very much heat in B0 conveyers approach the requirements depassing through the furnace. manded in furnace use, but it has further been Still a further important feature of the infound that such conveyers heretofore known vention consists in constructing the means and developed are so heavy and rugged as for connecting together adjacent plates in to make their installation cost practically such a manner that the means may also serve 35 prohibitive, and in addition to this, the old `as means for engagin a device for impelling type of apron conveyers are highly subject the conveyer. In the illustrated embodiment to breakage.- It has beenheretofore pointedy of the invention, the means for connecting out that the conveyer extends through the adjacent load engagingmembers comprises a furnace from points outside thereof, the purplurality of spaced arms formed integrally 90 pose of this being to permit an operator to with one of the, members and a barre pordeposit the steel parts upon the apron outside tion carried by the adjacent edge of an a'dof the furnace and to remove them after they joining member. The barrel portion is arhave passed through the furnace and have 'ranged to extend between the spaced arms, in

*D again gained the outside, and whena con- Which position it serves as a s rocket engagveyer is used in vthis manner, the repeated ing tooth, and there is providld a fastening submission of the various portions of the element which extends through alined open- `conveyer,rst to furnace conditions and then ings formed in the barrel member and the l to `atmosphericconditions, produces an exspaced arms to hold such member and arms in panding'and contracting action vwhich tends assembled relationship. 10

Afl additional feature of the invention consists fin locating the connecting portlons centrall')7 of the wldth of the plates whereby the elongated conveyer is supported pent-rally of its width, and there need e provided only a single row of centrally locate sprocket engaging teeth as contrasted with. a plurahty of rows located along opposite slde edges of the conveyer.

From a slightl different aspect, the lnvention consists in t e provision of an improved article of manufacture comprising a conveyer section, or plate, having connectlng portions formed integrally therewith along the outside edges ofthe plate thereby leaving a smooth unobstructed central portion.

. Such a construction attains simplicity in design and permits the connecting portions to be used as sprocket teeth without creatmg interference between the sprocket and the central portion of the lates.

These and other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from Va reading of the following specification in the ht of the accompanying drawings, 1n ich- Fi re l is a view in side elevat-ion show` ing iagrammatically a furnace and a conve er extending therethrough;

igure 2 is a fragmentary view of a portion of the conveyer shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view in bottom elevation of the portion of the conveyer shown in Figure 2' and Figure 4 is a view in section taken along the line 4, 4 of Figure 1.

As shown in the drawings, the reference numeral 10 indicates, generally speaking, a. heat treating furnace that is provided with open ends a, b which may be closed by means of vertically movable sealing doors 12, 14. The purpose in providing the open ends of the furnace is to the end of accommodating a conveyer 16 which extends longitudinally through the furnace and terminates at points located beyond the open ends thereof. As

shown in Figure 1, the conveyer is of the endless or apron type in the use of which a continuous work engaging surface is constantly movin through the furnace and this surface ris utilized as a support in advancing steel parts, or other metallic objects to which it 1s desired to apply heat, from a point outside of the furnace a-t one end through the furnace and thence to a point outside at the other end.

It has heretofore been pointed out that an extremely desirable consideration in conveyers of this type resides in the simplicity and lightness of the conveyer, and, in considering the construction and arrangement of the conveyer parts as described in the following paragraphs, it is requested that'attention be directed to the outstanding simplicity and consequent lightness of the invented conveyer. As shown in Fi ure 3, the conveyer 16 is composed of a p uralit or series of a proximately rectangular p ates 18, 18 whic are of the same width and are alined. with one another in order to rovide a long narrow conveyer surface. T e conveyer elements 18, 18 are each rovided with a plurality of .spaced paralle arms 20, 20 which extend downwardl from each conveyer element in a direction oblique' to the bottom surface of the element, and with a barrel or bearing portion 22 which is formed integrally with a plurality of spaced su porting arms 24, 24 that extend obli ue y downward from the edge of the plate ying opposite to the spaced parallel arms 20, 20. Thus, itv will be seen that each conve er element or plate 18 has a plurality o downwardly extending arms formed integrally along one edge of the plate and a barrel portion formed integrally along the other ed e of the plate, and it will also be understo of course, that the spaced parallel arms of one plate have interfitting enga ement with the barrel portion of the next a jacent plate and serve in securing the plates to one another. As illustrated, the arms 20, 20 and the barrel portions 22, 22 of the several plates are bored out in such a manner that when the plates are assembled there are presented elongated openings through which suitable fasteners 26, 26 may be inserted to' hold the plates in assembled relationship. If desired, a locking means 28, herein illust-rated in the form of a cotter pin, may also be provided.

It is to be appreciated that forming the connecting portions integrally with the conveyer elements in the manner described results in the'production of a conveyer that is essentially simple in design and construction, and yet, owing to its very simplicity is extremely durable in operation and little likely to get out of repair.

As shown in Figure 1, the conveyer is mounted to pass over a plurality of actuating, or impelling, members or devices which in the ligure referred to are illustrated in the form of sprockets 30, 30. As the members or elements 18 of the conveyer pass over the end sprockets there is a tendency for adjacent members to spread apart leaving a space between them and to the end of preventing the presence of such spaces the adjacent edges or ends of the members 18, 18 are overlapped in the manner illustrated in lFigures 1 and 2. As there shown, the forward edges 32, 32 of the several plates are formed with a convex upper surface and a concave lower surface which overlies the slightly upwardly flexed rear edge portions 34 of the members.

It is to be pointed out at this interval that the distance between the center of the connecting pins or fasteners 26, 26 and the top of the plates 18, 18 is slight, from which fact it follows 'that in passing across the sprockets 30, 30 the ends of the plates in pivoting about the fasteners 26, 26 do not tend to spread far apart owing to the short radius about which they pivot. As a result of this feature, the overlapping of plates may be small whereby the major portion of each plate remains clear and unobstructed.

Furthermore, it is to be observed that the rear edges 34, 34 of the plates 18, 18 are normally located only a short distance in front of the downwardly depending arms 20, 20 and by means of such an arrangement if any appreciable sagging takes place in the conveyer the arms will engage the rear edges of the next adjacent plates and will tend to prevent the sagging action. A

In still further carrying out the basic idea of simplicity in design and construction and lightness in weight, as well as durability in wear, the connecting portions or elements which join adjacent plates together are of such a construction that they may serve as sprocket engaging members or teeth, thereby eliminating the necessity of further increasing the weight of the conveyer by providing sprocket engaging means separate and distinct from the connecting members. As -illustrated, the barrel or bearing portions22 are offset by means of the supporting arms from the lower surfaces of the plates 18, 18 and by reason of the location of the arms being restricted to the front and rear edges of the plates, the central portions of such plates are unobstructed, by virtue of which condition the conveyer along its bottom side presents a plurality of alined, equally spaced sprocket engaging teeth that are offset uniformly from the bottom of the plates 18, 18. Also, by disposing the row of sprocket teeth centrally of the elongated conve er, and by providing sprockets the teeth o which are of a suitable width, the conveyer ma be supported upon the sprocket by means o one row of teeth centrally spaced as contrasted .with a plurality of rows located along the opposite edges of the conveyer.

Thus, it will be seen that the conveyer plates are provided with integrally formed connecting portions which serve also as means for engaging the sprocket teeth, and are of such a formation that they are lighter in weight and yet more rugged in design than are man of the heavy and complex arrangements w ich are in use today.

While the invention has been disclosed herein with particular reference to heat treating furnaces, it is to be appreciated, of course, that although the invention does have an outstanding applicability to furnace use, it may also be put to other suitable uses, and employed in connection with other apparatuses without in the slightest departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. Furthermore, lthere may be changes in design andfconstruction of the -which will from time'to time occur to those skilled in the art, but the introduction of such changes or modifications into conveyers of the illustrated type will not in most events constitute departures from the present invention, for it is contemplated that in order to adapt the conveyer to different uses andeven in order to readapt it to the same use it may bev found desirable to make such changes and variations as will from time to time occur'to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is: i

1. A conveyer comprising in combination a plurality of plates, a pair 'of separate arms integrally connected with each of said plates and extending downwardly and rearwardly from a central portion near one edge of one plate, a pair of arms integral with the' adjoining plate and extending downwardly and forwardly ,from a central portion near the adjacent edge of the said adjoining plate, the latter arms being integrally connected by a barrel portion and fitting between th" first mentioned arms; a pin extending through all of said arms to pivotally join said plates; cachof said plates having a large. substanr tially fiat top surface, and opposite edge portions curved about said pin as an axis to overlap the adjoining plates, and having a bottom surface unencumbered except by two remote pairs of depending arms. c

2. A conveyer comprising in combination a plurality of plates, a pair of separate arms integrally connected with each of said plates and extending downwardly and rearwardly near one edge of one plate, a pair of arms integral with the adjoining plate and extending downwardly and forwardly near the adjacent edge of the'said adjoining plate, the latter arms being integrally connected by a barrel portion and fitting between the rst mentioned arms; a pin extending through all of said arms to pivot-allyjoin said plates; each of said plates having a large, substantially flat top surface, and opposite edge portions curved about said pin as an axis to overlap/the adjoining plates, and having a bottom surface unencumbered except by two remote pairs of depending arms.

l 3. As an improved article of manufacture, a conveyer section comprising a load engaging plate having remotely spaced pairs of` arms integral therewith and extending downwardly and outwardly from opposite edge portions of the bottoni face of said plate, one of said pairs being integrally joined by a barrel portion and the other of said pairs being spaced to receive such a barrel portion on another plate, all of said arms having openings for the reception of pins, said plate having a large, substantially flat top surface and opposite edge portions curved about said pin openings as axes to overlap the adjoining plates, the bottom surface of said plates being unencumbered except by the two pairs of depending arms.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 2nd day of v October, 1928.

FRANK A. FAHRENWALD. 

